The past can be quite fascinating. Those of us living in the present find it really interesting what life was like 50, 100, or even a 1,000 years ago. Luckily, we can go almost 200 years to the past thanks to photography, as the oldest surviving photograph is from 1826.

It’s even more interesting when old historical photos teach us something new. That’s the mission of the Undiscovered History Facebook page. It’s a popular account with over 540k followers that teaches its fans a bit of everything: history, aesthetics, and even interesting facts. So scroll down and explore history through the medium of pictures!

#1 Three Female Students Walk In The City Of Kabul, Afghanistan, 1972

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#2 A Portrait Of Hollow Horn Bear, A Man From The Brulé Native American Tribe. 1907

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#3 A Mother And Her Eight Sons, All Served, All Came Home

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Undiscovered History is one of the few online accounts run by the folks at History Defined. It’s a blog that shares important and unusual historic facts and stories we probably don’t learn in a history class at school. Their content includes such interesting stories as why Christian monks had such weird haircuts and the fashion of the decades from the 1920s up to the 1990s.

Besides this Facebook page, you can find History Defined and their content on Instagram, X, and YouTube. We’ve actually covered their IG page a couple of times, and you can find the article here and here. Their X page is currently the most popular with over 670k followers.

#4 Blackfoot Tribe In Glacier National Park, 1913

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#5 Cats Wait For The Fisherman To Return, Istanbul, 1970s

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#6 A New York Policeman Hanging From A Girder, 1920

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The content channel describes their goal as “to create exciting content, whether you’re casually interested in history or an expert.” The Instagram page came first in October of 2021, and other social media accounts followed. They also accept contributions from their followers, asking them to reach out through their contact page.

In May 2023, History Defined launched the Threads of History Facebook group, taking their audience’s submissions even further. That’s where their followers and fans can share any fascinating stories and photos from the past they find interesting and worth sharing.

#7 A Man Posing With A Donkey In His Lap, 1910s

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#8 Idaho Winter, As Experienced In 1952

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#9 A Four-Year-Old Child Helping Her Family Pick/Dig Potatoes, 1931

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Nowadays, we consume tons of visual media. Videos, photos, cinema, and TV can help us learn new things every day. However, they can just as easily misinform us. With the rise of AI-generated images and other means to doctor photographs, it’s hard to know when we can trust what we see as true. Interestingly, what we now consider historical images were sometimes altered even before the advent of Photoshop.

#10 A Kid’s Reaction To Meeting Andre The Giant (1970’s)

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#11 A Mountain Boy Fetches Water From A Spring, Great Smoky Mountains, Sevier County, Tennessee, Ca. 1950

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#12 A Young Boy And His Dog From 1889

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Perhaps the most iconic portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is actually fake. In the image, Lincoln is standing, but that’s not his body. Printmakers superimposed his head from a 1964 portrait by Anthony Berger onto John Calhoun’s body. Hany Farid, a professor specializing in image analysis at Berkeley University, claims it might’ve been because there were no “heroic style” portraits of Lincolns at the time.

#13 Jim Carrey, Christmas 1967

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#14 Federico Caprilli Demonstrates The Skills Of His Horse As Part Of The Esteemed Italian Cavalry School, 1906

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#15 4 Generations In 1 Picture, 1880s

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Stalin was a big fan of removing his enemies and those who fell out of his favor from photographs. One example is a 1922 image where the dictator is standing next to the Moscow canal. In the original photo, a secret police official Nikolai Yezhov is standing next to him. But in 1938, he fell out of Stalin’s favor and was secretly arrested, tried, and executed. Thus, the leader had photo retouchers remove him.

#16 A Photograph Of A Little Boy Carrying A Newborn Lamb, In Scotland, 1932

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#17 A Little Boy All Dressed Up Standing By His New Pedal Car. 1958

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#18 Just Divorced, 1930s

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The National Geographic is also a culprit when it comes to altering images. Their February issue cover in 1982 featured the pyramids of Giza. However, in the image they used, the two pyramids are too close together than they are in reality.

The magazine later expressed their regrets and said: “We no longer use that technology to manipulate elements in a photo simply to achieve a more compelling graphic effect. We regarded that afterwards as a mistake, and we wouldn’t repeat that mistake today.”

#19 Three Lacemakers Working. Brittany, France. 1920

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#20 Monet With His Wife Alice, 1908

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#21 The Shape Of The Statue Of Liberty Is Formed By 18,000 Soldiers Standing In Formation. Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Ca. 1918

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Did you know the iconic album cover for The Beatles’ Abbey Road was also altered? In the original, Paul McCartney was holding a cigarette in his right hand. In the United States, the poster companies airbrushed the images and removed the cigarette from his hand in 2001, 14 months after George Harrison passed away from cancer.

Apple Records later issued a statement, saying they never agreed to this. “It seems these poster companies got a little carried away. They shouldn’t have done what they have, but there isn’t much we can do about it now.”

#22 An Officer Halts Traffic To Make Way For A Cat Carrying A Kitten Across The Street, 1925

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#23 King George Vi Bursting With Excitement On A Theme Park Ride – 1930s

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#24 3 Sets Of Twin Girls Pose Together For A Portrait In 1895

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A 1970 photograph by photojournalism student John Filo taken at a protest against the war in Vietnam was doctored as well. But not in an attempt to change history. The original simply broke the main aesthetic rule of photography: a fence post terminated on top of the subject’s head. The photograph won a Pulitzer prize, so, it was worth it, probably?

#25 1967-2018 Same Bike, Same Couple

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#26 Photo Of Lumberjacks Cutting Trees In Pacific Northwest, USA 1915

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#27 A Boy Selling Lemonade With A Portable Lemonade Dispenser. Berlin, 1931

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And how can we forget to mention celebrities getting airbrushed on the covers of magazines? One of the earliest examples was a TV Guide cover of Oprah. The editors superimposed her head on the ’60s star Ann-Margaret’s body. Interestingly, the magazine didn’t ask either woman’s permission before they chose to do that.

#28 New York City Ca.1940

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#29 Lockheed Martin Employee Sally Wadsworth Working On The Fuselage Of A P-38 Lightning In California, 1944

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#30 An Empire State Builder Hanging On A Crane Above New York City, 1930

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Photographs can be a great source of history. But, sometimes, we should take them with a healthy dose of skepticism. As David Levi Strauss writes for TIME magazine, “Technical images have now become a form of information, to be consumed like all other bits and bytes. As we consume them, we should perhaps take a moment to reflect, not just on how we manipulate and change them, but also on how we are manipulated and changed by them.”

#31 1969 And 1970’s Cars For Well Below $3000

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#32 A Sweet Photo Of A Brother And Sister. Charlottesville, Va, C. 1916

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#33 A Lovely Photo Of A Brother And Sister. I Love Their Fashions And Her Purse! Chicago,. 1945

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#34 Old-Time Appalachian Musicians With A Pooch On The Porch

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#35 Charlie Chaplin Meeting Helen Keller, 1919

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#36 Looking Out The Window Of Apollo 11, July 1969

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#37 Seiko TV Watch From 1982

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#38 A Man On The Porch Of His Cabin, Eagle Creek, Murray, Idaho, 1889

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#39 A Stylish 1940s Group Portrait

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#40 A Taco Bell Menu From 1972

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#41 The Cast Of Alice, 1979

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#42 The Traveling Wilburys, 1980s

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#43 3 Beautiful Children From The 1900s

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#44 An Old-School KFC Menu

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#45 Mcdonald’s Parties In The 80s Were Epic!

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#46 Wooden Railway Bridge. USA, Montana, 1883

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#47 Portrait Of A Mother And Her Daughter. Photographed In 1910

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#48 Kids Cheering On The Way Out The Door On The Last Day Of School, 1977

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#49 Andre The Giant Flying Out Of Japan, 1980

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#50 3 Beautiful Children From 1901. Hattie, Clarence, And James Harold Ward

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#51 A Woman Churning Milk To Butter While Reading A Book, 1897

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#52 A Lady From High Society. Ottoman Empire, 1900s

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#53 A Family At Their Cabin Home In West Virginia, 1900

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#54 Unbelievably Stunning Couple (Love How Their Hands Are Clasped Together), 1960s

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#55 Richard White Bull, Oglala Sioux, 1899

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#56 Female Swimmer Posing On The Beach. Deauville, France. Ca. 1925

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#57 London Pub, 1967

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#58 In 1960, David Latimer Planted A Spiderwort Sprout Inside Of A Large Glass Bottle, Added A Quarter Pint Of Water, And Then Sealed It Shut

He opened the bottle 12 years later in 1972 to add some water and then sealed it for good. The self contained ecosystem has flourished for more than 60 years. For those who are wondering how this is even possible: the garden is a perfectly balanced and self-sufficient ecosystem. The bacteria in the compost eats the dead plants and breaks down the oxygen that is released by the plants, turning it into carbon dioxide, which is needed for photosynthesis. The bottle is essentially a microcosm of earth.

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#59 A Cool Girl Posing With Her Car Around 1920

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#60 Three Young Boys Sit In A Wagon In A Pittsburgh Neighborhood Street, 1920-1930

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#61 Kids Playing, New York, 1940s

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#62 A Native American Sends Smoke Signals In Montana, June 1909

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#63 Tricycle From 1936

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#64 People Gathered In Front Of Stores In A Small Town. Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 1880

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#65 Grandparents The Night They Met (1970)

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#66 Rolling To Work, 1940’s

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#67 Cowboys Enjoy Drinks At The Equity Bar In Old Tascosa, Texas, 1907

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#68 Children In The Slums Of Cumberland Street. Dublin, Ireland, 1940

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#69 Dutch Boy With A Pillow Strapped On His Backside To Soften The Falling On Ice While Skating, 1933

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#70 Lady And Her Horse On A Snowy Day In 1899

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#71 Marlene Dietrich Kissing A Soldier Returning From Wwii, 1945

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#72 A Female Firefighting Team On A Converted Motorcycle In London, 1932

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#73 New York City Around 1960

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#74 Young, Well-Dressed, Victorian Girl In 1902

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#75 Woman Packinghouse Worker From Tennessee With Three Of Her Four Children Eating Supper Of Fried Potatoes And Cornbread And Canned Milk. Belle Glade, Florida

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#76 The Family Of A Migratory Fruit Worker From Tennessee Now Camped In A Field Near The Packinghouse At Winter Haven, Florida, 1937

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#77 The Opening Of The Eiffel Tower During The 1889 World’s Fair

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#78 New York City 1960

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#79 70s Fashion

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#80 Country Store On A Dirt Road, North Carolina In 1939

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#81 Ruth Disney Seen Standing With Her Big Brother Walt (1906)

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#82 A Little Gang From Ohio, 1936

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#83 McDonald’s Menu In 1960

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#84 Father And Son Take Silly Photos, 1910s

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#85 Family In Front Of Shack Home, Mays Avenue Camp. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

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#86 Residents Of West Berlin Show Their Children To Their Grandparents Living In East Berlin, 1961

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#87 Stunning Then And Now Comparison Of Robin Hood’s Bay, A Picturesque Old Fishing Village In Yorkshire

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#88 Photograph Of An Elderly Man And Woman Wearing Work Clothes And Seated On A Pile Of Firewood

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#89 Former Sharecroppers, Just Before Moving To Southeast Missouri Farms. 1938

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#90 Two Young Women Walking Along Broadway Between 48th And 49th Streets. New York (1969) What Stands Out?

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#91 Young Woman Removing Her Loaf Of Bread From The Oven, 1909

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#92 Boy Selling Coca Cola From A Roadside Stand, 1936

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#93 American Woman Welders During World War II

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#94 Barefoot Kids At A Mobile Book Cart In The Appalachian Mountains

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#95 The Old Cincinnati Library Before Being Demolished, 1874-1955

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#96 Young Riders Refuel During A Children’s Sidecar Race In The Lustgarten In Berlin, Germany (1931)

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#97 Rural Mail Delivery In 1914

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#98 Two Gentlemen From The Early 1900s

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#99 In The Kitchen Of A Montana Farmhouse, 1900

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#100 Portrait Of A Boy On A Rocking Horse, 1902

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#101 Southern Ohio Family In Front Of New Washing Machine, 1911

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#102 Cyclist From Estonia, On A Self-Made Bicycle, 1912

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#103 Ozark Mountain Family At Their Cabin In Arkansas

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#104 A School In Seattle 144 Years Ago!

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#105 Even The Window Cleaners Wore Suits 100 Years Ago

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#106 A Couple From 1850!

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#107 Going To Mcdonald’s In The 1950s

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#108 The Comfortable Living Room (1930)

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#109 Mother With Her Daughter In 1880

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#110 A Family Living In London’s Slums, 1900s

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#111 This Photo From 1902 Shows French Knife Grinders. They Would Work On Their Stomachs In Order To Save Their Backs From Being Hunched All Day. (France 1902)

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#112 These Progressive High School Girls Learn The Finer Points Of Auto Mechanics In 1927

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#113 Irish Fishermen, Ireland 1910

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#114 Rare Photo Showing Niagara Falls Completely Frozen Over In The Year 1911

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#115 Acrobats Balance On Top Of The Empire State Building, 1934

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#116 A Group Portrait Taken At A Wedding In Norway, 1900

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#117 Milkman Dropping Off And Picking Up Milk, 1939

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#118 Trappers And Hunters In The Four Peaks Country In Brown’s Basin, Arizona

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#119 A Woman Using A Spinning Wheel Outside Of Her Log Cabin, 1918

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#120 Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game In San Diego, 1992

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